Gender roles of the Kongo were completely different from what we see today in our society of patriarchy. Though different there are few similarities that are present,primarily the clear labor division between men and women. This was probably seen as early as the start of civilization, men were delegated heavy labor jobs such as clearing forest for crops to be planted, which was the primary job of the woman. The kanda ideology furthered the labor divisions with its primary focus on land, woman were ideally in control of the sale of the land but men were who cleared it and made it usable. Making the men’s role appear of higher importance than the women’s, this also dictated much of the society’s values on women.
Men usually were allocated to clearing forest as previously stated but also were involved heavily in producing tree crops such as oil, wine, fruit, palm, bark cloth and medicines from these tree crops. The men of the society were also central to the construction of building houses, sculpting and making other objects either for worship or daily life. Trading with other civilizations farther away from the home was also done primarily by men, as well as hunting.
Woman’s roles were quite pivotal in the growing of the community, they were the ones who worked the land, sowing, tending and harvesting the fruits of their labor. For the woman living on the coast, they had a fundamentally different set of tasks for the day. They would harvest produce of the sea as well as extract salt from the water, to sell at market.
It is safe to say that men and woman both played a role in the expansion and continuation of the Kongo through food and shelter. Both sexes were obviously seen as imperative part of life, this is seen thought the roles of both woman and men as the chiefs of the kanda, during the earlier periods in the society it is even debated to whether the female had dominant power within the kanda.
